Delicious and Frugal Creamy Pesto Cheese Ravioli!

This past week I made another delicious meal for under $15! This time it was a Creamy Pesto Cheese Ravioli. This recipe fed 6 college students, with about a serving and a half left over, so it makes A LOT of food. You could definitely halve it if you aren't cooking for many. I used mini cheese ravioli because they were on sale, so whatever you have on hand will work fine. Also any sort of milk/cream combo would probably work. (Heavy, Light, 2%, 1% etc.) I also made the pesto using a McCormick package because it was cheaper than buying the already made stuff. So feel free to adapt anything/everything with what you have on hand or what's on sale! I also served this with some broccoli!

What I Used
- 2  Bags of Frozen Cheese Ravioli (24 oz bags)        - $4.00
- 2 cups of Light Cream                                             - $1.19
- 1 cup of 2% Milk                                                    - (we had on hand)
- 4 cups of shredded parmesan cheese                       - $2.99
- 2 cups of pesto (2 packets of McCormick)              - $3.00
       

How I Made It

1. Heat oven to 400°F
2. Begin preparing ravioli according to directions. 
3. While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the pesto mix in a sauce pan, but wait to turn the heat on until after you put the ravioli in as it only needs to heat for a minute or two.
4. You'll also need to find a pretty big mixing bowl. Put the milk and cream into it. 
5. While you're waiting spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray. Once the ravioli goes in the water, heat the pesto (mixing it regularly) for a minute or two.
6. Add the pesto to the milk/cream combo.
7. Once the ravioli floats spoon them in the mixing bowl.
8. Layer ravioli, and parmesan cheese in the casserole dish. (Leave at least 1/2 a cup of cheese) Pour remaining cream over the ravioli. Top with remaining parmesan cheese. 
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until top layer is golden brown and/or sauce is bubbling)
10. ENJOY! :)

Clear The Stage - Jimmy Needham

Let this song challenge you! What idols are you worshiping?

Getting Organized!: Weekly Planner!

Happy Monday!

This is my second Getting Organized! post. Last week I introduced you guys to my Apartment Cleaning Schedule. This week I want to show you my Weekly Planner. It really helps me to have everything I need to do in one place. I try to carve some time out Sunday evening or Monday morning to fill out as much of this as possible to help keep me sane throughout the week.

I scoured the internet to find something I could use, but couldn't find anything that fit my needs for free, so I made my own. :) You'll most likely have to edit this a bit, but I hope it's helpful!

If you have the newest Excel click here

If you have 2010 Excel click here 

Enjoy!

-Laurel

Easy Meatball Lasagna for $15!

I made this Meatball Lasagna on Monday night this week for my apartment of 7 hungry college students! We ate most of it that night, and finished up the leftovers yesterday. When looking for recipes I'm always looking for something affordable, and filling; this recipe hit the spot!


What You'll Need
- 1 10oz Bag of Frozen Meatballs                             - $4.99
- 2 jars of sauce (I used Market Basket 3 cheese)     - $2.67
- A box of oven ready lasagna noodles                      - $1.50
- 4 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese                     - $2.99
- 1 cup of parmesan cheese                                       - (we already had this on hand)
- 1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese                          - $2.99
- 2 eggs                                                                    -  $0.32 (1.89 for a dozen)
- any spices you have/want to use                             - (we already had these on hand)

How You'll Do It

1. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. (Or whatever baking dish you have)
2. Warm-up and thaw the bag of meatballs with both jars of sauce (and some spices if you'd like)  
3. In medium bowl, mix ricotta cheese, 3 cups of mozzarella cheese, eggs (and basil).
4. Heat oven to 350°F
5. Place 4 noodles (or however many fit in your dish) on the bottom of baking dish. Top with about a third of the ricotta mixture and then a third of the meatball mixture. Repeat this step until you have no more ingredients or you've run out of room (I ended up making two lasagnas)
6. Sprinkle with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese. Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray; cover baking dish with foil. 
7. Bake covered lasagna 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until bubbly, edges are golden brown and cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

As you can probably tell my recipes are pretty casual. I'm a real proponent of using what you have, because with meatballs, sauce, cheese, and noodles you can't really go wrong! So feel free to add/subtract and make any changes you'd like! I love that I was able to make this dish the night before and just throw it in the oven the next day when I was ready. 

I shop primarily at Market Basket which tends to run cheaper than most supermarkets here in Massachusetts, but in total this meal cost just over 15 dollars to feed 7 people dinner, and 3 lunches the next day!

Getting Organized!: Apartment Cleaning Schedule!

Hello!

As Summer has come to an end and fall is in full swing it's time to get organized! This past week I've creating a lot of tools to help keep me organized. I'm a list maker so I feel most organized when I can see everything I need to get done in one spot.

The first sheet I've been working on is checklist for our apartment cleaning. My roommates and I dedicate every Tuesday Night from 8:30 - 9:30 to cleaning. We rotate jobs each week, and blast music (typically the Tangled soundtrack) as motivation. I've created this chart so we can make sure we don't miss anything, and by initialing the appropriate cell we can ensure we actually rotate. Click here to download and customize our schedule for your own needs!

Stay Tuned for some more organizational tools!!

- Laurel

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Smoothie

After my morning run I almost always enjoy one of these delicious and nutritious breakfast smoothies! They're easy to make and quite satisfying. 

Here's what you need:

• A Banana - size doesn't really matter, and the riper the better!

• 5 or 6 frozen strawberries

• 1/6 cup oatmeal (I usually just throw some in, but this is probably about how much ends up in there)

• 1/4 a cup of vanilla Greek yogurt  (I use Cabot)

• A splash of milk 

• A handful or more of spinach

• Water - However much you need to get it to the consistency you want

Blend all the ingredients and enjoy!! The best part about smoothies is that it's easy to experiment with the ingredients. There are countless combinations that'll still be delicious. 


I had been making this smoothie for a couple months before I finally had the courage to add the spinach, but the honestly it's still delicious, and now I've snuck an extra serving of vegetables in! (But  I don't blame you if you omit it for awhile :))

New Outlook!

Hello World!

Today I'm kicking off the re-installation of this blog! I was up late last night working on formatting and layout issues (which I ended up changing this morning anyways) and now it's ready (well good enough :)) for new posts!

Some of you may be asking "Well what kind of posts?" Good question! All kinds of posts! You'll probably be able to find my personal insights/thoughts on Bible passages, recipes, work-out ideas, funny stories etc. I hope you're as excited as I am to begin this blogging journey.

Stay Tuned!